David Blaine

Wedding Ring Swallow

Revealed

David Blaine performed this trick for several people in his new TV special Beyond Magic, including Johnny Depp, Margot Robbie, Patrick Stewart, Emma Stone and John Travolta. He first asks them to take their wedding ring off. He conceals the wedding ring in his hand, blows into the hand, and when he opens the hand, the ring is gone. It appears Blaine has sucked the ring into his mouth and swallowed it. He shows everyone that his mouth is empty.

He then asks for a hanger. He straightens the hanger out and starts jamming it down his throat. Everybody is shocked.

You can see this trick here:

Explanation:

Of course he doesn’t actually swallow the ring. He doesn’t even put it in his mouth. He uses quick movements and sleight of hand to get it out of his hands and stores it somewhere on his body. There are two options: either he throws the ring into his shirt as he ‘blows’ into his hands, or he somehow gets it into his sleeves. There are plenty of clever techniques magicians use to vanish coins – it should be just as easy to vanish a ring.

So he has a ring concealed somewhere at his body, somewhere he can reach it fast. He probably grabs it while the others are looking for the hanger.

Now notice something. We never see how he begins to stick the hanger into his mouth. This tells us something important: a crucial part of the trick happens there. You’ve probably already guessed it – that’s when he puts the ring on the hanger. He sticks the hanger into his mouth with the ring already on it. Then he just has to push it deep into his throat (this part is real – remember, Blaine is crazy when it comes to things like this) and pull it out. It looks as if he used the hanger to pull the ring from out of his stomach!

How did Blaine get the ring on the hanger? Our reader Toby has a few ideas:

"I thought of the same explanation you gave, but there's something missing. They straighten the hanger but do not untwist the hanger end under the hook. Trying to wind the ring through the wire twist would be difficult, and probably damage the ring. Maybe he has a few pre-made hangers on him, of different colors, which are designed to slip a ring on easily. He gets everyone looking at the ring while he swaps hangers.

Or, he's just really damn good at untwisting just enough for the ring to get it looped unscathed. But he's got several people looking at him from different angles. Simplest of all, he'd have an assistant do it for him, during a shooting break.